The present disclosure relates to a sheet feeding device that feeds a sheet and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding device.
An image forming apparatus including a sheet feeding device that feeds a sheet, such as a copying machine and a printer, is known. The sheet feeding device is mounted in a main body of the image forming apparatus. The sheet feeding device includes a sheet stacking base that has a base surface on which a sheet is placed, and a cursor that positions a sheet placed on the base surface.
The sheet feeding device is required to feed sheets of various sizes. Thus, the cursor should be capable of positioning sheets of various sizes. There is a known art related of positioning a sheet by a cursor.
In the prior art, a pair of first cursors (first sheet guides) and a pair of second cursors (second sheet guides) position a sheet placed on a base surface of a sheet stacking base (feeding table). The pair of first cursors is movable on the base surface of the sheet stacking base in conjunction with each other along a sheet width direction to separate from and come close to each other. The pair of second cursors is supported in a manner allowed to pivot upward and downward relative to the base surface. In another embodiment, the pair of second cursors is supported in a manner allowed to pivot upward and downward relative to the first cursors. For example, a sheet of A5 size or larger is positioned by moving the pair of first cursors in the sheet width direction with the pair of second cursors housed in a guide housing. A sheet of a narrow size, such as a name card size, is positioned by the pair of second cursors with the pair of second cursors set upright.
In the known art, the pair of first cursors is movable on the base surface in the sheet width direction. Meanwhile, the pair of second cursors can pivot in upward and downward directions but cannot move in the sheet width direction or moves together with the pair of first cursor.